Famous quotes
Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,158,808 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
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Success and failure
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“Beyond this day, no thinking person could fail to see what would happen. I was now resolved to do everything in my power to defeat the system.”
Oskar Schindler (1908–1974) said by 1974 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: After witnessing a day of Nazi roundups of Jews in Krakow, as quoted in Schindler's List (1982) by Thomas Keneally, Ch. 15.
“To fail spectacularly is a loser’s paradise.”
Jasper Fforde (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You do not have to present not-truths to me, Sasha. I am not a child."(But I do. That is what you always fail to understand. I present not-truths in order to protect you. That is also why I try so inflexibly to be a funny person. Everything is to protect you. I exist in case you need to be protected.)”
Jonathan Safran Foer (born 1977) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For priority in location, we need to first attend to Zone 1 and Zone 2; these support the household and save the most expense. What is perhaps of greatest importance, and cannot be too highly stressed, is the need to develop very compact systems. … We can all make a very good four meters square garden, where we may fail to do so in 40 square meters.”
Bill Mollison (1928–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Al-Qaeda is a virus and it is spreading. If we fail to stop it, we will pay a very heavy price.”
Barham Salih (born 1960) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Iraq: The Regional Security Dimension" (May 2007), World Economic Forum
“Others may doubt us. They may criticize us. They may try to deny us what is rightfully ours. But they will fail. And I promise you, as long as I am mayor, I will never back away from fighting any opponent -- or confronting any obstacle -- that would prevent our people from achieving all of their dreams in Our New York.”
Michael Bloomberg (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In accordance with the prarabdha of each, the One whose function it is to ordain makes each to act. What will not happen will never happen, whatever effort one may put forth. And what will happen will not fail to happen, however much one may seek to prevent it. This is certain. The part of wisdom therefore is to stay quiet.”
Ramana Maharshi (1879–1950) said by 1950 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is almost certain that we will fail. But how will future history judge the German people, if not even a handful of men had the courage to put an end to that criminal?”
Henning von Tresckow (1901–1944) first seen 1944 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: June 1944. Marcel Stein, Field Marshal Von Manstein, a Portrait, p. 247.
“Language performs an essentially social function; it helps us to get along together, to communicate and achieve a great measure of concerted action. Words are signs which have significance by convention, and those people who do not adopt the conventions simply fail to communicate. They do not "get along" and a social force arises which encourages them to achieve the correct associations. (p.69)”
Colin Cherry (1914–1979) said by 1979 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No nude, however abstract, should fail to arouse in the spectator some vestige of erotic feeling, even if it be only the faintest shadow — and if it does not do so it is bad art and false morals.”
Kenneth Clark (1903–1983) said by 1983 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Women's Studies can amount simply to compensatory history; too often they fail to challenge the intellectual and political structures that must be challenged if women as a group are ever to come into collective, nonexclusionary freedom.”
Adrienne Rich (1929–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Most biographers of women still fail to recognize that a woman's central relationship can be to her work, even as lovers come and go. ("Raya Dunayevskaya's Marx")”
Adrienne Rich (1929–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The past speaks to us in a thousand voices, warning and comforting, animating and stirring to action. What its great thinkers have thought and written on the deepest problems of life, shall we not hear and enjoy? The future calls upon us to prepare its way. Dare we fail to answer its solemn summons?”
Felix Adler (1851–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If any one owe a debt for a loan, and a storm prostrates the grain, or the harvest fail, or the grain does not grow for lack of water; in that year he need not give his creditor any grain, he washes his debt-tablet in water and pays no rent for this year.”
Hammurabi (1810–1750 BC) said by 1750 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Section 48 of the Code of Hammurabi (translated by Leonard William King, 1910)
“The reflection on the days of difficulty and danger which are past is rendered the more sweet, from a consciousness that they are succeeded by days of uncommon prosperity and security. If we have wisdom to make the best use of the advantages with which we are now favored, we cannot fail, under the just administration of a good Government, to become a great and happy people.”
George Washington (1732–1799) said by 1799 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You must take care of the civil rights bill - my bill, the civil rights bill - don't let it fail.”
Charles Sumner (1811–1874) said by 1874 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am in charge of the process of Atonement, which I undertook to begin. When you offer a miracle to any of my brothers, you do it to yourself and me. The reason you come before me is that I do not need miracles for my own Atonement, but I stand at the end in case you fail temporarily. My part in the Atonement is the cancelling out of all errors that you could not otherwise correct.”
Jesus (6 BC–33) said by 33 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the present "situation" as the phrase goes, it may be my duty to make some new announcement to the people of the South. I am considering, and shall not fail to act, when satisfied that action will be proper.”
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) said by 1865 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Whate'er of earth is form'd, to earth returns, * * * * The soul Of man alone, that particle divine, Escapes the wreck of worlds, when all things fail.”
William Somervile (1675–1742) said by 1742 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nature lies disheveled, pale, With her feverish lips apart,— Day by day the pulses fail, Nearer to her bounding heart; Yet that slackened grasp doth hold Store of pure and genuine gold; Quick thou comest, strong and free, Type of all the wealth to be,— Goldenrod!”
Elaine Goodale Eastman (1863–1953) first seen 1922 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Goldenrod; reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 326.
“(Speaking about Chris Ryan, ex-SAS) Charming! Sat there in his white jeans and wanted me to fail. I don't know what he had against me. I'm sure it was nothing to do with my over use of the word ‘podia’, which I hoped would irritate him a little bit more than it did. Some people...”
Derren Brown (born 1971) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It seems like people my age are over-protected today, even to the point where a lot of parents refuse to put their kids in the position to make important decisions, to aspire to great things, because they don’t want to put them in a position to fail.”
Abby Sunderland (born 1993) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I was so thankful that my parents trusted me enough and had enough faith in my abilities to let me follow my passion and try to do something great, even if I might fail.”
Abby Sunderland (born 1993) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“That’s been a hashtag fail." And on the temptations stemming from a life of crime: "With the bling and everything that comes with it.”
Jack Layton (1950–2011) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 2011 English Language Federal Election Debate
“Bourguiba warning the French: "it will mean war. ... Today I am the President of the Republic, but I will be the first to join the Maquis. ... Tunisia is always ready to turn the page. ... I have promised the Tunisian people that the French army will go, If I fail, I will be swept away.”
Habib Bourguiba (1903–2000) said by 2000 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Anyone familiar with the marvels of the Worldwide Web can hardly fail to see that we have entered a new era in communications on a scale perhaps comparable to the invention of the Gutenberg press.”
Randal Marlin (1938–2026) said by 2026 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Every now and then its good to step back a little. When we let go a little and remove ourselves from the drama , we can see more clearly. So often we are caught up in the stress we fail to see what triggers our worries. When we are still and put distance between our problems we often discover the solutions”
Michael Elmore-Meegan (born 1959) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The disappearance of the heroic ideal is always accompanied by the growth of commercialism. There is a cause-and-effect relationship here, for the man of commerce is by the nature of things a relativist; his mind is constantly on the fluctuating values of the marketplace, and there is no surer way to fail than to dogmatize and moralize about things.”
Richard Weaver (1910–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The brain is a mystery—it has been—and still will be. Not that we do not know many facts about it. The facts we know have indeed greatly multiplied in recent years, but they all fail to give us a key to the mystery of how it creates—if it does create—our thoughts and feelings; that is, said more concisely though less concretely, our mind.”
Charles Scott Sherrington (1857–1952) first seen 1949 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Mystery of Mysteries: The Human Brain". The New York Times (December 4, 1949), Section SM, p. 19 (opening paragraph of article)
“Where religions fail, cults appear.”
Daniel Bell (1919–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So far as school education is concerned, many of the assumptions necessary for market efficiency fail, the main problems being imperfect information, imperfect capital markets, and external effects.”
Nicholas Barr (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Any aeai [A.I., artificial intelligence ] smart enough to pass a Turing test is smart enough to know to fail it.”
Ian McDonald (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Much fruitless speculation has been spent over supposed hidden meanings in Lewis Carroll's Hunting of the Snark. The inclination to search for these was strictly natural, though the search was destined to fail.”
Henry Holiday (1839–1927) first seen 1898 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Snark's Significance, Academy, 29 January 1898.
“Attempts at eliminating the mind’s main defilements—greed, hate and delusion—must fail as long as these defilements find refuge and support in the uncontrolled dim regions of the mind.”
Nyanaponika Thera (1901–1994) said by 1994 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Orthodox tools based on a normal distribution therefore fail exactly where they are most needed, at the extremes.”
David Orrell (born 1962) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Perform Vishnu smaranam in Shiva temples and Shiva smaranam in Vishnu temples. Without fail, all those who have gathered here today remember these. The world is full of troubles.”
Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji (born 1942) first seen 1996 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Maha Shivarathri message following Agni Puja (17 February 1996)
“Participants perceive swings in national mood, elections bring new administrations to power and new partisan or ideological distributions to Congress, and interest groups of various descriptions press (or fail to press) their demands on government.”
John W. Kingdon (born 1940) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All the people that were rooting for me to fail… at the end of the day, tomorrow they have to wake up and have the same life that they had before they woke up today. … They got the same personal problems they had today. And I’m going to continue to live the way I want to live and continue to do the things I want to do.”
LeBron James (born 1984) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: James addressing fans after losing to the Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 NBA Finals.
“What shall it profit us to live in an affluent society if the things we produce and the ways in which we distribute them fail to contribute to the achievement of human dignity and social values?”
Stanley Knowles (1908–1997) said by 1997 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[The "New Atheists"] fail to recognize that mocking religious people in public is entirely inimical to the goals they wish to achieve.”
Jacques Berlinerblau (born 1966) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Professor Jacques Berlinerblau tells atheists: Stop whining!" Washington Post, 17th September 2012
“The vengeful God of wrath and punishment is a mere fairytale. It simply is the Me That makes me fail.”
Angelus Silesius (1624–1677) said by 1677 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Successful problem solving requires finding the right solution to the right problem. We fail more often because we solve the wrong problem than because we get the wrong solution to the right problem.”
Russell L. Ackoff (1919–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A corporation that fails to see itself as an instrument of all its stakeholders will probably fail to use them, and be used by them, effectively enough to survive in the emerging environment.”
Russell L. Ackoff (1919–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We are always obliged to think about the larger system. If we fail to do this, then our thinking becomes fallacious.”
C. West Churchman (1913–2004) said by 2004 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A complex system can fail in an infinite number of ways”
John Gall (1925–2014) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 92, cited in: Erik Hollnagel (2004) Barriers and accident prevention. p. 182
“No event, no matter how preposterous, will fail to find itself indispensable to some future happenstance.”
Tony Vigorito (born 1950) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nobody can hinder you from doing what you want, if that's what you set your mind to. You can always find a hook to hang excuses on, but they're only excuses. You don't have anyone to blame but yourself. Nobody else makes you fail.”
Ben Carson (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“At a single glance I survey the whole Universe. He will never be happy, whom such pleasures fail to please!”
Tao Yuanming (365–427) said by 427 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Serialists fall into difficulties if they fail to distinguish the wood from the trees and consequently try to assimilate masses of sparsely related irrelevant information”
Gordon Pask (1928–1996) said by 1996 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Even though the eagle, King of birds, Can with his powerful sight Gaze steadfastly upon The brightness of the sun; Yet do the weaker eyes of the bat Fail and falter in the same.”
John Ruysbroeck (1293–1381) said by 1381 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source